Simon Drake
, also known by his callsign: Ghost, was a ONI Section 3 High Priority Communications Analyst, working in the Delta-1 sub division, who was later assigned to work with the 6th ODST battalion, and an elite squad of ONI Operatives known simply as GHOST. He served in both the Human-Covenant War and the Human-Jiralhanae War. He distinguished himself in combat, earning numerous medals and saving countless lives. He had a long, intense relationship with Anna Michel, a fellow ONI Communications Analyst. =Early Life= Simon was born to Maxwell and Theresa Drake on planet Earth, in 2515. Maxwell was a civilian contractor who did various jobs as an Architect. His mother, worked as a secretary for a president of a Satellite communications company. With both parents making a high level of income, Simon was sent to a private school where he met his soon to be best friend, Peron Escuela. Peron was the one who got Simon interested in hacking. Within three months the two 16 year old were hacking into the schools database and changing the grades of themselves and other students. By the time they graduated both students had 15 detentions and 6 out of school suspensions and were on the brink of being expelled. =Military Career= By the time the pair of friends graduated from high-school the Human-Covenant War was in full swing. Both Peron and Simon signed up straight out of school and decided to put their skills to use, and therefore joined the Office of Naval Intelligence. It took him 13 years to reach High Priority Communications Analysis, but he stayed in HPCA for two short years before he was transferred to Field Duty to recover and decrypt high-level covenant intel. The 6th Simon was assigned to Dog company of the 6th ODST Division. Although being brought into the Company with no experience in Orbital drops let alone combat, the men and women of Dog Company were skeptic of Simon's abilities, however in the first three months he learned all he needed to know, and soon garnered the friendship and respect of the entire company. He followed them on all of their combat operations, salvaging what ever he could find among the wreckage. Never making a major discovery that would help the war in favor of the Humans, he did manage to find a memory core that contained data on the Covenant's knowledge of Human colonies. The memory core also contained information about an assault on one of Earth's colonies. Thanks to Simon's discovery the UNSC was able to mount a massive ambush and managed to take out the entire Covenant Battle group with minimal losses. Simon was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and was offered supervisor position at HPCA, but Simone respectfully declined saying: "I've grown attached to the men of the sixth, I wish to stay with them and continue my field work". Simon went on to serve with the 6th, scoring many defeats and few victories. On occasion he was sent away on a classified mission, sometimes he would return in days, sometimes they wouldn't see him for months. GHOST Team Three months after Simon was assigned to the 6th, Simon was approached by Rear Admiral Banks, a legendary commander, who now sat on the board of directors for ONI's Section III. Admiral Banks, asked Simon if he wanted to be apart of a special force tasked with missions to suicidal for normal ODST's and too meek for SPARTANs. Really, with no choice, Simon accepted and was made the leader of the group. All of the members, except Simon, were highly decorated Shock Troopers from the 7th Shock Battalion. With experience in Orbital Drops, and general combat, Simon was more than ready to lead the squad into combat. From 2550 to 2552 the group only fought in 15 engagements, although only 3 of them were successful victories. Most of the missions turned up covenant technology, or information, both an a varying degree of importance and value. It wasn't until the Human-Jiralhanae War started that each member of the GHOST Team became full time members. Operations of GHOST Declassified* Operations of GHOST squad *Operation: New Found Glory- Goal: Recovery of Enemy Weapons *Operation: Blacktooth- Goal: Recovery of Intel *Operation: Deep Water- Goal: Destruction of Friendly Intel *Operation: Iroquois- Goal: Recovery of Enemy Weapons *Operation: Cherokee- Goal: Recovery of Enemy Intel *Operation: Mohawk- Goal: Recovery of Enemy Intel Capture During one of his classified missions, THE STORM, Simon was captured while recovering Covenant technology. The mission was simple, he'd be dropped into orbit by the Stealth Frigate White Nightmare, in a Stealth Human Entry Vehicle, along with four other operatives, to locate and secure a cache of covenant weapons found on the planet Sylus. The planet was one of the few former human worlds now held by covenant that wasn't glassed. However there was still around 1000 UNSC soldiers on the ground fighting for survival against a legion of 8000 covenant troops. The fireteam, GHOST, dropped behind enemy lines and was supposed to recover a cache of covenant weapons a patrol of Marines had found. It took them three days to track down the cache, but they found it in an old bunker that was inhabited by brutes. The team suppressed the threat, and planted a beacon, for which a pelican was to recover them, and the weapons. However, a nearby patrol of banshee's picked up the signal and began strafing the fireteam. By the time the pelican arrived there were hundreds of Covenant soldiers in the vicinity. The Pelican was shot down on sight, leaving GHOST stranded. For 5 grueling hours the team fought against impossible odds, finally the covenant overwhelmed them. However instead of executing the team on sight they took them back to their nearby ship, and held him captive, using torture methods to attempt to extract information. When HighCom heard of this, they saw the possibility of a wealth of information aboard the ship. The sent in a team of SPARTANs to recover GHOST team. The SPARTANs were sent to the Sylus system in the fastest ship possible. They arrived a week after the capture of Commander Drake, and stormed the ship the next day. However, as GHOST and the SPARTANs escaping the ship, a covenant battlegroup arrived in-system and attempted to destroy the boarded ship, with the soldiers still on it. GHOST Team and the SPARTANs escaped alive, but neither the weapons cache or any useful information was recovered. After the destruction of the captured ship, the covenant battle group glassed Sylus, and killed the thousands of soldiers still on the planet. The SPARTANs and GHOST Team managed to get back on the Stealth Frigate that originally brought them there, and following the COLE protocol, they jumped on a random vector, before heading back to Reach. Declassified Engagements *Battle of New Albany (UNSC Defeat), 2550 *Battle of Cale (UNSC Victory), 2550 *Battle of Sapphire (UNSC Victory), 2550 *Battle of Sylus (UNSC Defeat), 2550 *Naval Engagement over Herald (UNSC Defeat), 2550 *Naval Engagement over Acai (UNSC Defeat), 2551 *Battle of Yale (UNSC Defeat), 2551 *Battle of Earth (UNSC Victory), 2552 *Naval Engagement over (UNSC Victory), 2555 *Battle of Doisac (UNSC Victory), 2556 *Naval Engagement over Mira (UNSC Victory), 2576 Declassified Campaigns Human-Covenant War 2525-2552, UNSC Victory Joining on his 18th birthday, Simon entered the war in the earlier years. He began working at Section one at ONI as a Senior Chief Petty officer, right out of Boot Camp. As the war became worse and worse, Simon began a steady climb through the ranks, making Ensign two years after enlistment. He didn't see direct combat as he worked on the TITAN Deep Space Communications Center, for most of the years of the Covenant war. It wasn't until 2550 that he began direct combat, he was reassigned to do field work, and was assigned to Dog Company of the 6th Shock Division. Simon, then began working as a deep cover ONI operative in the renown GHOST Team. Human-Jiralhanae War 2559-2576, UNSC Victory The Human-Jiralhanae War, contained Simon's most successful missions. In the operations he was assigned to complete he prevented three assaults on human controlled world, and was involved in the decline of political structure among the Jiralhanae. With GHOST Team at his command, he recovered thousands of pieces of valuable intel that was used to route, and utterly defeat the Jiralhanae. Promotions *Crewman Recruit-2533 *Senior Chief Petty Officer-2534 *Ensign-2535 *Lieutenant Junior Grade-2545 *Lieutenant-2550 *Lieutenant Commander-2552 Commendations *Bronze Star (2) *Silver Star (1) *Prisoner of War Medallion (1) *Red Legion of Honor (1), Awarded Posthumously *Purple Heart (2) =Personality= Simon Drake has a warm and open personality. He's lenient when he needs to be, and tough as iron when he doesn't. He's been called a natural born leader by the men and women serving under him. He would surrender his life if it meant his soldiers got out okay. He takes the time to get to know every soldier serving under him, and he usually becomes their friend. When someone under his command loses their life, he takes the time after the battle to pay respects and give them a proper burial (if possible). To his Family he was known as a kinda, compassionate and generous person. He always put those he loved first in his life. However, his son, Arthur, superseded everything in his life. He spent every waking moment for his son. He would rather die 100 times than lose his son. =Family= Simon's Mother is of Spanish Decent, while his Father's roots can be traced back to colonial America. Simon was raised with compassion by mostly his father. His mother, being a secretary, had little time to interact with her son, however when she did, Simon enjoyed it. With two brothers, Alex and William, as his only siblings, he struggled to gain the favor of his father. This was made even more difficult when Simon met Peron, and began getting into trouble. However, he redeemed himself when he joined the military, and he soon gained his father's acceptance. When Simon first met Anna Michel, he fell in love. Shortly after they pairs' relationship soon became more intense, and before they knew it, they had nearly spent every moment together. However, due to navy regulations, the pair had to keep it a secret. Over time, this proved to be too difficult, and they both decided that too many people relied on them. So, they agreed to break it off until the war ended. On the day the war was over, they two immediately resumed their relationship, and it was as intense as ever. The two got married and eventually had a child which they named Arthur. Shortly after Arthur's 12th birthday, Simon was killed in action, widowing his beloved wife and child. =Death= Simon died, a valiant and heroic death aboard the UNSC Silo. He was working with the commander of the ship when a brute ship attacked and launched boarding parties. Simon and several other marines, including men of the 6th, were holding a position while the few civilians on-board were being secured. Simon, let his men go while he staved off the onslaught of brute attackers. Simon was finally killed after 20 minutes of facing tens of brutes alone. He took three spikes, fired from a Spike Rifle to the chest, killing him. Because of his bravery, and selfless sacrifice he was awarded the Red Legion Honor two weeks after his death. Simon is survived by his son, Arthur Simon Drake, and his long time lover, Anna Michel. Simon's body rests in the Arlington National Cemetary, on planet Earth. =Trivia= *Simon's first name and picture is of the character Simon Tam from the Serenity Universe. *The idea for GHOST Team was inspired by the unnamed squad from Halo 3:ODST. Albeit, the team's function was modeled after the author's own ideas. Category:ONI Operatives Category:SPARTAN-08BLAM!